and as part of this post interview, penny also said i'm deeply saddened by the loss of life. it's tragic what happened to him. hopefully we can change the system that so desperately failed us. he's been charged with second degree manslaughter. out on $100,000 bail. but his attorney also told me, i think this gives a glimpse into the defense in this case, danny was protecting himself and everyone on that train. about you what the gets lost is that at the time he acted to defend those people, he put his own life and well-being on the line. he had no way of knowing if he would be hurt or killed. now, on the other hand neely's funeral was this friday. his family called for charges more than manslaughter. they want to see this through to an actual conviction. >> thank you for your reporting on this. we'll follow it very closely. >> all right. "cnn this morning" continues right now.

>> the full faith of the credit of united states is in the balance. >> there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely on the partisan terms. >> it seems as though he wants default more than he wants a deal. >> i will never give up. >> he claims the troops are pulling out of ukraine on may 25th. they claim to have captured bakmut. >> that is a incredible step to take. >> the country which is bigger than we are cannot occupy us k. not win in this war. >> south carolina's tim scott now has his sights set on the white house. >> i'm looking forward to optimistic positive leadership as anchored in conservative principles. >> you're not going to get a nomination by going around donald trump. you have to confront him head on. >> three, two, one and liftoff. >> the mission is on its way to

the international space station. >> as i look into space, i can't help but think this is just the beginning of a great journey for all of us. dream big. >> fairytale story. >> he gets better. >> get there. yes! magic. >> i had this weird sensation that life is not going to be quite the same moving forward. but only in a good way which is cool. i'm living a dream. i'm making sure i enjoy this moment. >> good morning, everyone. top of the hour. so glad you're with us here on cnn this morning. i'm even more glad my friend is here. good to have you. >> so good to be here. >> thank you for getting up early. >> it's my pleasure, i think. >> so far, so good. >> so far, so good. >> kaitlan is back later this week. sarah is with us today and tomorrow. we begin with this -- >> overnight, president biden racing back to washington from japan for debt limit

negotiations. just hours from now he is set to, once again, meet with house speaker kevin mccarthy as time runs out to reach a deal and prevent an economic disaster. there is less than ten days before the government potentially defaults on its debt. house republicans are demanding big spending cuts and stricter work requirements for things like food stamps and medicaid. before he left his summit with world leaders to rush back to d.c., president biden told reporters a lot of the gop's demands are, in his words, unacceptable. >> i think there are some maga republicans in the house who know the damage that it would do to the economy. and because i'm president and president is responsible for everything, biden would take the blame pt that's the one way to make sure that biden is not re-elected. >> that is quite a statement there. kevin mccarthy said he had a productive phone call with president biden while he was

flying home on air force 1. >> look, there is no agreement on anything. we've all said our piece about where we are. we're trying to find common ground to get this done. >> joining us now, democratic congressman of florida. good to have you. good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. okay. so, let's dig right into where we are. i wonder first your response to what the republicans did over weekend which is basically add more asks to what they want to have an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. and the asks include some of the provisions in the republican immigration bill. adding that. and also additional changes to work requirements for food stamps. making it harder for states to get a waiver, give people a waiver to bypass the work requirements to get snap benefits. what is your reaction?

>> yeah. so right now, obviously, my biggest reaction is that the debt ceiling discussions are really nowhere. because both sides are continuing to posture both sides are throwing out, you know, all sorts of different issues as they try to figure out, you know, where they can get to some sort of middle. if the democrats don't feel like they're getting something, they'll throw out an idea. if the republicans don't feel like they're getting something, they'll throw out a new idea. and that's why we have seen the debt discussions take pauses efrl several times. i think there are people in the freedom caucus that do believe, you know, defaulting is an option. they do believe politically it would benefit them. we saw president trump on this network say we should default which i looked as a permission slip to those folks -- >> you mean during the town hall? >> yes. will during the town hall. you know, we saw president trump say the nation should default. that was a permission slip for folks in the freedom caucus to

start causing trouble. listen, we have to get to a deal because defaulting would be totally catastrophic. and that deal, when that eventually comes, i think we'll get one. it depends on whether we get it by june 1. we could see our credit rating downgraded like we did ten years ago. and so this deal is going to have to come. you're going to have to have democrats and republicans in the house vote for it. we're probably going to shed both folks on the progressive left and folks on the right the freedom caucus. and so trying to find that middle ground is where they're at. i'm hopeful because so far the body language from the speaker and the president seem to be that they're still negotiating. i think we should have been talking this entire time. but we are where we are. default would be completely catastrophic. >> yeah. it would. congressman, you said something really interesting in your answer. you said both sides are

posturing. you mean democrats and republicans. the do you blame democrats and the biden white house equally with republicans here, that we are at this point? >> no, i don't. obviously, we could have passed a clean debt ceiling. i'm for a clean debt ceiling. it is something we did three times in the trump at mgs. it is something we have done dozens of times, we've done it more times under republican presidents than under the democc presidents. unfortunately, we lost the house. we have to raise the debt ceiling. we have to work with the folks that we have. and so, we can say it's unfair. but it is the process. and so, look, the president of the united states has shown time and time again it's why he has decades of experience. it's why we elected him that he'll figure out a way to make a deal so that we don't default. defaulting is worse than anything else that currently, you know, is being proposed.

we have to figure out how we get a deal that can pass both the house and the senate. let's not forget the senate is not even at the table. good right. >> for any of these real discussions. it's really going on between the president and the speaker. >> congressman, you tweeted over the weekend, it appears that the debt ceiling strategy bet republicans couldn't pass a bill. but they did. kevin mccarthy got it through. i thought this was interesting from republican senator bill cassidy speaking to jake yesterday morning on cnn state of the union. he made the argument that federal shendinpending should r to prebiden levels. he think it is not fair for the white house to be setting terms of capping spending at levels that white house already elevated under biden. here's what cassidy said. >> the president has been jacking up spending his first two years of the presidency. now he want republicans to accept that as a new baseline.

i think republicans are reasonable to ask that it be reset back down. >> are you with senator cassidy, that's a reasonable ask? >> well, let me say two things. i think the american people as they're tightening spending, they want to see government do the same. that being said, it's nice to see my republican colleagues all of a sudden care about spending. when president trump was in charge, they racked up more debt in the four years than any other single president. it seems they only care about spending when there is a democrat in it charge. that being said, you know, i do think the american people want us to get a deal. i do think they want to see us figure out how we can spend less as they're spending less. they also want to see us pay our bills. they get a bill in the month every month for their spending. the they know they have to pay bills. they don't get to say, well, before we pay our bill, let's discuss our spending, american express or visa. no, they have to pay the bill. otherwise, there is real life consequences. we have to pay bills. i think it's a fair conversation to talk about spending.

now, next year, the year after that, the year after that. >> and your point about trump and the debt. part of that is the 2017 tax cuts. but part of it was also covid stimulus spending. i do want to you about this. another thing that is really fascinating and interesting this week is ron desantis is going to announce he's running for president, right? the worst kept secret. he's going to make it official. you worked for him. and you complimented him on how he governed. you called him detail oriented and data driven. this is largely in emergency relief because you were the emergency management czar. what can we expect from a desantis run? >> listen, like i said previously, the governor is extremely bright. he is someone that is detail oriented and data driven. and that we did that during covid. that being said, obviously, the policies that have been passed in florida over the last several months this session and last

session as he tries to get to the right of donald trump which i don't believe there is such a thing, but he's going to attempt it. you know, the policies obviously i added -- i disagree with. things i voted against when i was in the florida legislature. and so, look, the republican primary is about to turn into a ufc-wwe fight, you know, vince mcmahon could produce this between donald trump, ron desantis, there were reports that maybe chris christie is going to get into the race. and so, you know, we better buckle up and strap in. this is something we've not seen, you know, you don't get around donald trump. you're going to have to go through donald trump. and so, you know, in the beginning right now, i think we've seen ron desantis try to hit him with some kid gloves f you're going to take down donald trump, you know, you have to -- you have to play on his level. i think that's what the primary voters want to see. >> you know desantis well. will he take off the kid glove s

quickly? he's going to look the athose numbers. he's going to test the messages. i mean, he's going to do all of those things. that's whoa i've seen, you know, how he works. and so, he'll be looking at all of those things and figuring out what is working and what is not working. i just thoroughly believe if you're going to take down donald trump and we saw this previously, you're going to have to go at him. and that's what is working. the donald trump numbers have gone up over the last couple weeks and months based on some of the things he's been saying. and so if you're going to beat him, i think you have to go right at him. >> okay. >> congressman, really appreciate you being on. let's hope that congress can reach a deal very soon. >> thank you, poppy. >> you got it. >> speaking of those primaries, this morning south carolina

republican senator tim scott is expected to formally announce he is running for president. the race for the gop nomination already includes former donald trump as you know and fellow south carolinian former governor nikki haley. but scott is planning to stand out by offering a more optimistic tone than his republican rivals. we have more for us. >> the story of america is not defined by our original sin. the story of america is defined by our redemption. >> south carolina's tim scott -- >> how you doing? >> now has his sights set on the white house. leaning on his compelling personal story and conservative policy credentials, scott joins a growing republican primary field, currently led by former donald trump. >> when you adhere to the principles in the gospel, human

flourishing cannot be stopped. >> he said he will make his faith the corner stone of his presidential campaign. >> i was raised by a single mother in poverty. our spoons in our apartment were plastic, no the silver. but we had faith. we put in the work and we have an unwaivering belief that we, too, could live the american dream. >> first selected to congress in 2010. by then governor nikki haley was appointed who launched her own presidential bid in february. >> i think fresh faces and authenticity goes a long way in the political process. >> so far, scott is sticking to the message of hope over hostility. that defined his career. >> i'm looking forward to optimistic positive leadership that is anchored in conservative

principles. >> there are hundreds of worshipper that's see him most weekends. >> he has a commitment to be in church 40 weekends out of the year. >> including his long time pastor and friend. >> i think a misconception that people might have about him is that his niceness, his humility translates as weakness. i like to kind of see it as an iron fist and a velvet glove. >> did he talk to you about running for president? >> sure. >> and did you give him any advice? >> i said as an american citizen, i would be excited to see tim scott as president of the united states. as your friend, i can't think of a reason why you would want that

job. and so that was my advice to him. >> senator scott did have an early stumble out of the gate. that's when he was asked about the federal abortion ban at 15 weeks. he declined to answer that question to later say he would support a 20-week abortion ban. when asked again, he said he didn't want to get into a discussion about the matter of weeks. this is going to be a central issue in the republican primary. this issue of abortion. curious to see how' dresses it at his formal launch today. >> what every republican contender is going to have to answer that question, that's for sure. >> just hours from now, the man aus cooed of killing four university of idaho students will be in court. we're expecting him to enter a plea today. he is facing four murder charges and a burglary charge. investigators say he stabbed four students to death and then off campus home in november. remember, there was a long, long

search. students and small community around the school lived terror as the authorities searched for the killer for a month and a half. what should we learn in court? >> this is a very important hearing. it is the formal arraignment. i say formal because it is now in district court which is the trial court. they also will apprise him the charges, constitutionally. he must have notice. of course, these are the original charges. there are four counts of first-degree murder. this was a eqquadruple homicide. we cannot forget the victims for today's hearing.

all of them students at the university of idaho in moscow. and they all lost their lives. now what we need to look forward to is whether this will be a death penalty case. in idaho, they got 60 days from today to determine whether they will seek notice. we have to wait for that. if you remember, they said they were in favor of the death penalty. it matters when the victims care about. >> absolutely. the prosecution has to listen to them as well. jean, thank you. always on the hardest stories of the day. appreciate it. >> thank you. a shootout at a car show near mexico's border with california leaves at least 10 people dead. what authorities suspect was behind that shooting. plus -- >> mr. president, is ukraine in the russian's hands? they say they have taken it. >> after months of intense

fighting, russians say they captured the ukrainian city of bakmut. president zelenskyy denies that claim. we'll take you live to southeastern ukraine. d. that's my boy. ♪ stay off the freeways! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ obviously, we got termites. well, first thing is, you gotta know what they're bitin' on. whoa, yeah! this aged birchwood is perfect for the big ones this time of year. ho-ho! they gble it up like a candy bar. nice. woman: wh's going on? at? i told you toire a pro. i did get a pro. an orkin pro! i got this. got termites? don't call any pro, call the orkin pro. with over 120 years of experience, nobody's better. orkin. the best in pests. you're still paying me for this. i know, just relax. from prom dresses to workouts and new adventures you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated

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president zelenskyy speaking alongside president biden about the bloody battle for bakmut. the wagner group is claiming to have captured the eastern ukrainian city. but president zelenskyy is denying claims and says there is nothing left there after russia destroyed the entire city. cnn sam kiley is live in southeastern ukraine with more on the situation. sam? >> sarah, i think that the first thing to take away from this is that while the ukrainians are saying they still have a small foothold in the city of bakmut,

they can see that wagner controls most of the city. there is nothing left of the city to really care about. but they're also holding the flanks. they advanced on the northern and southern flanks which means that they have the wagner group potentially in the mouth of their jaws which ultimately they could turn to their advantage by using bakmut as a free fire zone and going after the city center which is how they claim. the leader of the organization, sayer y sarah, we have to say this is a man that says more or less anything every day. the latest statement when he took the city was that he would be pulling his men out on thursday. and expected the russian regular forces to invest the city. if he were to try that, that would provide them with a golden opportunity during the relief in

place to attack both sides. that would be pint of great vulnerability. it's the -- i don't think we should set by it. this man is, after all, a murderer. sarah? >> wow. sam kiley, thank you so much for being there. thank you to your crew including one of my favorite photographers. i thank you both for putting yourself in danger to bring us those stories. >> let's bring in our u.s. retired army major mike lions. president zelenskyy is saying not for sure that bakmut has gone to russia. the wagner group is saying it has. why is it significant? >> propaganda, that's all that's going on here. this is the twilight point. there is nothing more to be gained. the city flattened fundamentally. it shows ukrainian resilience and russian military failure. they're trying to claim a victory that just isn't there. >> okay. so, also, a shift in the biden

administration's views on f-16s. over the weekend. right? >> yep. >> at least green lighting joint training of f-16 pilots. >> yep. >> with our european allies. why is that significant? as you know, "wall street journal" editorial board critical that it's taken this long. they write, the obvious question is why this decision took 15 months zblchl yeah. a couple things. let's be clear. the f-16s are not game changing to the situation on the ground. it's not going to give air superiority to the military. there is a very long time before they're going to be impactful. i think it took that long because from a strategic perspective now, you're going to see ukraine eventually and nato. this is really a fate acome plea now because of them getting this platform. >> because the fighter jets not previous weapons, right? >> no, this is a strategic weapon. for example, president zelenskyy tells president biden he's not going to attack into russia.

hard border, right, between ukraine and russia. there are targets here. missile sites along this border here. there is multiple sites that f-16 now has capability to attack that cross that border. and that violates where the weapons were supposed to be defensive now. >> right. >> looking at the countries where it's likely the f-16s would come from if not the united states, what? >> i think these four countries are the ones that likely give up the f-16s they have that are in their inventory as they transition to f-35s. norway, denmark, netherlands and belgium. maybe 30 to 60 or so f-16s within the next few months. still going to take significant amount of time. three major issues. we have to train pilots and make sure they're up to speed hachlt is four to six months. and it's a surmountable challenge right now. maintenance and sustainability is going to be a key. there are spare parts that are not made anymore.

of lastly, what are the munitions going to look like? the f-16 is a platform and does a lot of different things. >> this pilot training is a reason why a number of the members of congress are calling on the biden administration to start training earlier in case we got to this point. let's talk about what was signed overnight. the president had to cancel the leg of the trip. he didn't go for a first ever, what would have been a historic visit. but secretary blinken went. they have come out with a joint defense agreement, a maritime agreement. can you speak to the significance of that given the rising influence of china in the region? >> yeah. big win for the administration diplomatically. it is a location right north of australia. provides tremendous place for the navy to project power from naval assets. we saw the chinese make deals before. there is this pivot to the pacific that is finally now taking place. i think it's very important that this administration did that very big win for the administration. >> thank you.

great to you have as always. major mike lions. >> just ahead, a transgender teenager in mississippi missing her high school graduation after she was told she had to wear boys clothes in order to attend. they sells cnn she would rather stand up for what's right than be humiliated. more of her story just ahead. and also, imagine higt the biggest shot of your life in front of just the entire world. the sicinderella story that everyone is talking about. that's next. this is the all-new ergo smart base from tempur-pedic. and it responds to snoring, soou don't have to. so, no more nudging your partner. or sleeping on the other side... ofhe house. beuse the tempur-ergo smart base ...then automatically justs to help reduce it.

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a transgender student in mississippi skipped her high school graduation after a judge sided with school officials who said she must follow the boys dress code for the saceremony. the teenager's family filed saying she should be allowed to wear a dress and heels under her graduation robe. one day before, the judge denied the family's request. how did this all play out? >> yeah. and sarah, good morning. i spoke with samantha brown, the

mom and the transgender teenager. they asked for me to keep with her initials out of concern of her safety. they feel upset. they're confused, disappointed. they feel like they missed out on a big moment in l.b.'s life. now they're evaluating the next legal option. so here's a picture right here of the white dress she would have worn under this white robe that goes all the wait down to her ankles. l.b. says she's been openly transgender for four years now, since her freshman year of high school. and this is something known to school members to administrators and other students. she tells me last year at prom she wore a dress and heels with no problems. but then two weeks before graduation, she was told she could not wear a dress. listen. >> there is definitely -- it was a hard, long decision. but i would rather stand up for what's right than be humiliated

and feed into their thoughts and their opinionated feelings on, you know, what's right and what's wrong with gender identity. >> i don't -- i was very hurt and just to see the hurt and the humiliation on her face, you know, after the ruling, it was just very upsetting for me. >> we got ahold of the harrison county policy. for girls required to wear dresses or dressy pant suits. and for boys, dress pants, shirt, and a tie. it says students whose attire does not mean the minimum dress requirements may not be allowed to participate in the graduation exercise. now note this policy does not mention lgbtq students and doesn't specify you should dress based on the sex you were assigned at birth. the school district looking

through the court documents, they made several legal arguments in court saying that graduation is volunteer. there's no constitutional right protecting that. and also saying they determine whether student is male or female based on their birth certificate. sarah? >> interesting that you would not even see this dress under the robe but there we are. thank you so much for reporting the story out. >> thank you. >> all right. golf star brooks koepka making history winning his third career pga championship. he finished nine under par yesterday at the oak hill country club in rochester, new york, to secure his fifth overall major. he's the first golfer to win a major while playing in the controversial saudi backed liv golf series. he joins jack nicklaus and tiger woods as the only players to have won the pga championship three or more times in the strokeplayer rachlt the win represents major come back for koepka after overcoming a series of significant injuries in

recent years. >> honestly, i don't ever quit. don't ever give you have on anything. you never know how close you are or no matter how far it may feel. that's one thing i tell my son. no matter what he is going through, what it is, you just never know what is around the corner. there is always -- if you keep giving maximum effort and always keep a good attitude. >> he's got a great attitude. he won. but -- it was michael block who stole the show at the pga championship. watch. >> that's the kind of cheering you hear at a basketball game not at a golf tournament. that was a hole in one. shot by block. a 46-year-old club pro who teaches golf lessons at a public course in california for $150 for his lessons.

that incredible shot capping a fairytale weekend among the tour's pros who made the cut at oak hill. block finished tied for 15th on the leaderboard securing under $300,000, not bad. a spot in next year's pga championship. that's big. he normally earns $150 as i said for a lesson per hour. now block was really emotional as you might imagine after this event. >> it's amazing. i'm living a dream. i'm making sure i enjoy this moment. i learned that after the -- my 46 years of life. it's not going to get better than this. there's no way. no chance in hell. everyone is awesome. and i can't thank everybody enough for being so cool to me. and cheers to the 29,000 pga professionals of the world. this is for you guys. >> that was so sweet. he's the first pga pro to finish inside the top 40 at the tournament since 2005.

so cute. michael block, by the way, he's going to join us live in the 8:00 a.m. hour. something you definitely want to see. and before we go to break, the foo fighters making a big hire. check it out. ♪ >> he's getting it. josh freeze is a veteran drummer having played with bands like nine inch nails, offspring and weezer. he'll be replacing long time friend and drummer taylor hawkins who died suddenly last year while on tour. the foo fighters kick off the summer tour on wednesday in new hampshire. ♪

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thnchts sad news to report this morning.

ten people are dead and nine injured after a shootout at a car show in mexico. this took place in mexico's baja, california state on saturday afternoon. local authorities say an armed group jumped out of a van and began shooting at participants. they opened an official investigation into the attack. new reporting on disgraced finance year jeffrey epstein and his relationship with bill gates. he appeared to threaten bill gates over an alleged affair with a russian bridge player. the microsoft co-founder met the woman around 2010. epstein met her in 2013. later paid for her to attend software coding school in 2017. epstein e-mailed gates and asked to be reimbursed for the cost of the course according to people familiar with the matter. the e-mail came after the convicted sex offender had tried unsuccessfully to get gates to participate in a multibillion dollar charitable fund.

that is also according to the journal's reporting. the implication behind the message according to people who have viewed it was that epstein could reveal the affair if gates didn't keep up an association between the two men. a spokeswoman for gates told the journal, mr. gates met with epstein solely for philanthropic purposes having failed repeatedly to draw mr. gates beyond the matters, epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten mr. gates. >> that russian bridge player declined to comment on gates and said she didn't know who epstein was when they met according to the journal's reporting. we should note cnn cannot verify the claims of the journal's reporting. a spokesman for gates told cnn this as well, quote mr. gates never had any financial dealings with epstein as bill said before. the it was a mistake to have ever met him. here's what gates told our colleague anderson cooper back in 2021. >> i had several dinners with

him, you know, hoping that what he said about getting billions of fphilanthropy for global health through contacts that he had might emerge. the when it looked like that wasn't a real thing, that relationship ended. but it was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility. >> joining us now is one of "the wall street journal" reporters who broke this story. fascinating. will really important reporting. there have been so many questions about what the relationship was between bill gates and jeffrey epstein, how deep did it go and what maintained it, if you could call it that. so, to be clear to our viewers, your reporting is that epstein was trying to blackmail bill gates. is that a correct assessment? >> that is how it was perceived. it was a veiled threat. you have to keep in mind this is a nominal sum of money for these two people and the request for

reimbursement came several years after the relationship. and then after that charitable fund wasn't put together so the timing of it led to gates and then also perceiving it as a threat. >> when it comes to a case like this, it's interesting that there is still so much that we don't know about a lot of the relationships between epstein and others. a lot of people talking about that. >> they're powerful people. >> other powerful people. a lot of people are concerned about what those relationships look like. how difficult was it for you to get this information? what led you down this road? >> i've been looking into the epstein case since 2019. it has been really difficult to find information. i think it's a bit like an onion. you keep peeling back layers to understand how this person operated and how he was able to move through various layers of society. it has been challenging. but in the last few months, we have learned more.

>> what more can you tell us about the russian bridge player and how she met gates and epstein. we're not using her name. we haven't been able to reach her independently speak to her. you have reporting. what can you tell us about that? >> our understanding is that gates and her met at a bridge tournament and that they played bridge together around 2010, 2009. and then later on gates' science adviser was trying to help her find an investor for an online bridge company. and that's when she met epstein in 2013. and he reviewed a proposal to see if he could invest. he didn't end up investing. and she wanted to take software coding classes to further her career. epstein paid for boot camp. >> after your reporting, what have you heard? there is always -- there is usually fallout for something like this. what you have heard from -- we

saw some of the reporting from gates. what have you heard? has this caused any other issues for those involved? >> so, we actually just broke this story yesterday. we're still watching to see the reaction come in. but, i think people just have a lot of questions about epstein. i don't think this story really answers everything. i personally still have a lot of questions about who he was and what his goals were. >> keep digging. there is a lot there. there is a lot of interest in him and his relationship with powerful people and whether others got hurt because of it. thank you so much for all of your reporting so far. >> yeah. all of the victims in this. okay, president biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy will meet in just a few hours with less than ten days before the potential u.s. default which will be catastrophic. we'll get a look at where the negotiates stand ahead.

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today officials in yufld, texas, plans to hold a press conference as the city prepares to mark one year since that horrific school shooting at robb elementary school. 19 students, lest we forget, and two teachers were gunned down a year ago this wednesday. on the latest episode of "the whole story with anderson cooper," parents watched never-before-seen footage of their children fleeing the carnage after police breached the classroom. the video that you're about to see is graphic and disturbing, but the parents say it's important for the world to see exactly what they went through during those horrific 77 min minutes. >> did you see her? did you recognize her?

>> she also wanted to watch video of her daughter and other children placed on a school bus and taken to the hospital. the video is disturbing. chloe wasn't physically hurt during the attack, and remember, the blood you're about to see is not hers. >> i was on the floor with the police officer. >> oh, that was you? >> okay, okay. >> so hard to watch. joining us now is cnn senior crime and justice correspondent, shimon prokupecz. shimon, i was with you last night. we watched this together. and i saw you look away several times. get teary-eyed several times. it is impossible not to. tell us how difficult it was, the moment where you're sitting with the parents, and you're looking at this video of these kids covered in blood. >> yeah, so when it pertains to chloe's mother, jamie there, jamie torres, she's an incredibly brave woman. she wanted to see this video,

she knew we had it. we talked about it. she said, i want to see it. and for me, the sitting there and it was the most difficult thing to know, knowing that i was going to show her this video. i knew it was important for her to see and for the world to see so they can get a picture into what these kids went through. i think it's -- we're at a point in this country where it's important for people to see what these guns do to these kids. and the mom agreed. and you see there, sort of this moment of when all of these kids are on the school bus. there were not enough plambulans to put these kids in ambulances. two of them were shot. one of them nearly died. had the police waited any longer, she probably would have died. >> bled out. >> she was passing out on the bus. >> it's just -- it's too much. it's almost too much for someone

whose child it isn't to see it. >> what's so frustrating is that we are now year later, and so many questions still remain for these families. they can't get answers. i have family members calling me last night, can you help us? we're trying to figure out the last moments of our loved one's lives. there are inconsistent statements, information that's not accurate out there. they want closure. but law enforcement is not giving it to them. so they're turning to us, because they know we have all of this information. so it puts us in a weird position, certainly, to have to be the ones to do this. this is difficult and painful work. >> because, i want to show our viewers some video of another group of parents in your dock watching as their children fled the classroom. in fact, what you'll see here when you pull it up is that one father got up and left the room in disgust while the mother kept watching. here you have it. can you speak to why, just journalistically for you, you

know, how challenging it was to make the decision to agree to show footage to the parents that the authorities would not and how you wrestled with all of that. >> it was hard. we were in the car, the producer on this, we get a text from one of the mothers. she knew i was in town, she said, can we meet with you? i want to see this video. i was like, no way, i can't do it. we kept talking, i said, we're going to do it. and of course, we had to talk to her bosses here and figure out the situation, how we would go about it. and i pushed to do it. >> but they supported you. >> 100%. they were the ones who said, we want to do it. show it. and we sat in that room. and isn't it incredibly just brave of the mothers to sit there. the father couldn't handle it. but the mothers were like, we want to see this. we want to see what our kids went through. and they sat there and they sat through it and they watched.

it was the most difficult thing to do. because my biggest fear, honestly, was how are they going to react to this? >> re-traumatizing. >> and i don't want to r re-traumatize them. i certainly don't want to re-traumatize any of the kids. and i was so scared about how they were going to react to it. what do you do if they react in a certain way? i'm not a trained professional. but this is what they wanted. and for so long, they have not been getting what they wanted and to finally be able to do that for them, has been very meaningful. >> for one year. i cannot believe it's a year coming up. and that authorities still haven't come out with their determination in their investigations. >> absolutely ridiculous. >> i mean, the families don't have what they need, but you, your team has been giving that to the families. incredible reporting and so important for the families. >> and it's why you guys won a

peabody award, so rightly deserved for this. the whole game. it's what being a journalist is about. what you, and matt, and that team did, shimon. >> thank you. we continue with cnn this morning right now. i don't think trump can win a general election, but that's a nice way for him to dis people like tim scott, who's a formidable candidate. >> that was senator tim cassidy. today, tim scott will officially announce he's running for president, giving trump yet another gop challenger. we are also learning a top republican is going to endorse him. >> and paul whelan, the ex-marine stuck in prison in russia calls cnn from a russian prison camp and gives us an exclusive interview. coming up, you will hear his own voice and his plea to the u.s. government. also, the latest spacex mission is about to dock at the international space station. it is carrying a decorated former astronaut and three paying customers. we have new detail